Playing like it`s 1986-A Game of 1st edition Blood Bowl

Playing like it`s 1986

A Game of 1st edition Blood Bowl

Blood Bowl is a game that has a special place in my heart.  It all started in the mid 80s with me, like many British children at the time, becoming a bit of an American football fan.  I went as far as to play wide receiver in a junior full contact team, the Folkestone Wolverines.  Sadly the team was marred in controversy - the headcoach was caught fielding ineligable players and there was some talk of financial irregularities.  With that kind of background, the Wolverines will have to reappear as a goblin team in the future.  That is something to consider. 

Anyway, I played my first game of Blood Bowl around 1989, after I’d saved up my paper round money to buy the 2nd edition big box set with that wonderful astrogranite pitch. I’d love to be playing with this treasure from my childhood, but it’s currently languishing at my brother’s house in the UK. Luckily, he sent me a copy of 1st edition Blood Bowl along with the Death Zone expansion a while back, so I figured I’d give this venerable old gent a go.

1st edition Blood Bowl has more in common with Warhammer Fantasy Battle than with the later editions of Blood Bowl. This actually made the game pretty easy for me to pick up, since I’ve played more than my fair share of WFB. For my first game, I decided to keep things simple and only use the basic rules. I’m looking forward to adding some of the optional rules from Death Zone once I feel comfortable with the game.

I’ve got a lot of teams to choose from—1st edition uses standees—so rather than spending too long deciding, I just grabbed two at random from the box. The two teams facing off were a Half-Orc team, The Hellraisers, and a Dwarf team, Dumezil’s Miners.

Gameplay in 1st edition is broken into phases, with the active player going through all of them before the inactive player takes over. The phases are movement, throwing and kicking, tackling, and reserve movement—although, oddly, the rulebook talks about five phases in a turn, but I could only find four. As I mentioned earlier, these are the same as in older editions of WFB. For example, in the throwing and kicking phase you roll against the throwing skill rather than the bow skill in WFB. Likewise, attacking is resolved using combat skill rather than weapon skill.

The winner of a game of 1st edition (and 2nd edition, for that matter) is the first person to score three touchdowns. This can make the game run fairly long, but since I’m playing solo it’s not really an issue for me.

Overall, the gameplay of 1st edition isn’t that difficult, and it’s actually a lot of fun. But there is one issue worth mentioning: the pitch is too small for 11 players. There isn’t much room for the more agile teams to dodge around the bashier ones. The easy fix is to play with fewer players on the pitch. In my next game, I’ll limit the number of players on the field to 9, and the team size to 13. If that doesn’t work, I’ll tweak it a bit more until I’m happy with the gameplay.

Dumezil’s Miners Pulverise The Hellraisers in Dominant Display

Dumezil’s Miners dominated the game with their grinding style. Their plan was simple: keep the ball as long as possible and pulverise The Hellraisers in the dirt. It worked perfectly. Despite the Half-Orcs’ attempts to launch a passing game, the dwarves proved unstoppable. The Hellraisers’ team apothecary will need a miracle to get them back on their feet.

Final score

        

Game statistics

Highlights

The Hellraisers came out of the gates strong. They rushed for the ball, and after a quick scamper, they threw a pass for a touchdown. Their fans thought they were in for a good game.

The Miners responded to the score by gathering up the ball and slowly moving towards the Hellraisers’ endzone. The slow pace of the ball carrier allowed the rest of his team to take out some of their aggression on the Half-Orcs.

The Hellraisers tried to put up some defense, but the skill, toughness, and armour of the dwarves made their task almost impossible. Only a concerted team effort allowed them to make any impact on the Miners.

As the game went on, fewer and fewer Half-Orcs were able to take the field.

After an extended beating of the Hellraisers, the Miners finally decided to run the ball into the end zone.

The final play for the Hellraisers came as they tried for a third score and victory. Their hopes were crushed by the sheer number of dwarves racing towards them. The coach probably should have thrown in the towel earlier.

My Third Blood Bowl team

The Barak Varr Buccaneers

After painting the dark elf team, I felt like working on a "good" team. I had a few options—human, elf, or dwarf—and I decided to settle on some 2nd edition dwarves. The main reason for my choice was the arrival of a batch of metal miniatures from eBay. I was quite lucky to find a good number of reasonably priced figures. There are times when I’m more than a little surprised by the prices people are asking for Old Hammer figures. I was never really into dwarves in the 1980s. I only owned Barik Farblast and the plastic dwarves from the Dungeon Bowl set, which is a bit old, though I often played a dwarf in WFRP or 2nd ed AD&D.

It was quite nice to paint a brighter team. The orange and white paint scheme was inspired by the 1980s Tampa Bay Buccaneers' uniform. It’s not exactly the same, but it definitely gave me some good ideas to start with. I began by testing my painting ideas on a couple of 2nd edition plastic figures. The test pieces allowed me to see if I liked the look and to figure out how long the scheme would take to paint. I’m not a competition-quality painter; I paint for my table. If a paint scheme takes too long, I usually abandon it in favor of something quicker. I liked the colors overall, but I decided that a metallic face cage was the better choice.

One of the things that is important to me is making my teams as edition-flexible as possible. I want to be able to use them for both 2nd edition and 2nd season (soon to be 3rd season) Blood Bowl. This has taken a bit of creative thinking, but it has allowed me to include miniatures that aren’t necessarily Blood Bowl miniatures. For example, in the Barak Varr Buccaneers team, I have used a miniature inspired by the Runner career from 1st edition WFRP—or perhaps the miniature inspired the career; I’m not sure. The figure looks a little slow off the mark, but he will serve the team as a blitzer in 2nd edition and as a troll slayer in 2nd season.

The Barak Varr Buccaneers are complete for now. I’d like to add a death roller, but the prices on eBay are a little higher than I’m willing to pay. Still, these Alan Perry sculpts are great.

My Second Blood Bowl team

 The Morien Storm Warriors

After combing through my lead mountain I thought that my second Blood Bowl team should be a Dark Elf team.  I am not sure why I was taken my these figures, but there is something about these Michael Perry sculpts that grabbed me.  Most of the figures I had picked up on Ebay over the years, except for the Jes Goodwin star player who has been painted multiple times, first with enamels and then with acrylics.  He is now finally part of a team.  

Stripping the various paint jobs on the figures felt a little wrong as other people had stamped their identity on them and I wasn`t sure if I should that was the right thing to do.  The figures had various paint schemes, so I would have had to choose one scheme and strip the others.  This also didn`t feel like the best option.  After a bit of soul searching I decided to strip them all and go with a completely different paint scheme.

Here is the completed team the Morien Storm Warriors. I have named the team after the third book in the Orfeo trilogy by Brian Craig novel.  Not my favourite Orfeo novel, that would be Plague Daemon, but still a good read.

  

 A bit of a distraction

July has been a month where I have once again been distracted by another project.   How did this state of affairs come about?  I thought I would give you a brief outline of how I went from playing Hordes of the Things to painting Blood Bowl figures.

Recently, I played a couple games of Fantasy Flight`s excellent cardgame Blood Bowl Team manager.  If you like a good cardgame it has a lot going for it and if you are a Blood Bowl fan then you really should play it.  The only real issue with the game is getting your hands on a copy of the game and the expansions.  The expansion add a lot more teams to the base game, which helps to keep things fresh.

The cardgame reawakened in me an urge to reread the Blood Bowl novels by Matt Forbeck. Are they high literature? Of course not, but they are a good fun distraction from the troubles of the world. I am the proud owner of the hardback, slipcase edition,a wonderful gift from my wife a few birthdays back.

Reading the books led me to go through my lead mountain and pull out my old 2nd edition Blood Bowl miniatures. I spent a joyous few hours taking stock of the figures that I have and I realised that I could make 7 different complete teams. The choice of where to start was fairly easily. A lot of my Blood Bowl figures were painted with enamel paints, when they were all the rage, and they would need to be stripped of the paint, but my Skaven figures had sat unpainted since I bought them in Canterbury in the late 80s. So, I decided that I would finally give these Jes Goodwin sculpts a lick of paint.

I started painting the Skaven in the first week of July and gave myself the month to get them all finished. If I can keep up that pace I should have all of my figures painted by next February! I doubt that I will be able to stay focused for that long, especially as I don`t have a copy of Blood Bowl, but we shall see.

The figures themselves were really good fun to paint. They needed very little clean up and they have a lot of details that were easy to pick out.

So, here is the complete team, The Kingsbury Critters. I have given them a, Bob Olley, minotaur as a big guy, in the modern game he will be used as a rat ogre but in 2nd ed the Kingsbury Critters will be supported by Jim `Bully` Bowen the minotaur blitzer.

HOTTs Campaign year two

 Hordes of the Things

Campaign year two

The second battle in my Hordes of the Things campaign has taken a little longer to get on the table than I had planned. The usual things got in the way, life, work, and the need to paint a couple more figures. The battle itself was worth the wait, well I think so, it came down to both sides being almost at their break point.

Campaign year two

In the second year the dice gods determined that Argos would be invading Iranistan.

The Invasion Of Iranistan

The Forces

Argos
1x Strategos Demitris (Spears General)
1x Chimera (Dragon) 
1x Psiloi (Shooters) 
1x Helots (Warband)
2 x Hippesis (Riders) 
5x Hoplite Lokhoi (Spears) 

Iranistan
1x Satrap Xarxas in scythed chariot (Knight general)
1x Light Chariot (Knight)
4x Cardaces (Warbands)
2 x Takabara (Shooters)
1x Karkadann (Behemoth)
1x Xeshem (God)

Deployment

The Strategos Demitris choose to push towards the Iranistanian encampment with the full force of his Hoplite Lokhoi while using his other forces to harry the flank of the Iranistanian defenders.

To counter this strong attack Satrap Xarxas kept his force compact and refused his right flank.  The Iranistanians hoped that the god Xeshm would listen to their entreatments and come to their aid.

The Argosians called forth the mighty Chimera, its roar shattering the quiet before the battle.

The two main battle lines grimly marched towards each other.  The silent Iranistanians in stark contrast to the Argosian clashing of shields.  Satrap Xarxas was able to seize the iniative and moved to catch the Argosian Hoplites in a pincer movement with his light chariot.

The rapid approach of the Chimera forced the charioteer to turn to face this new foe, averting a possible flank attack.  This left the the two main battles to face each other in an equal clash of arms.

The Strategos Demitris showed that Argosian general were as well versed in the art of war as their soldiers.  Together with his bodyguard the Strategos cut through the units of Cardaces facing him.

Xeshem finally responded to the wild beseeching of the Iranistanians, appearing next to the Satrap.  This arrival was too late to save another group of Cardaces who had moved to block the Strategos Demitris and his fell blade.

With sounds of frustrated bleating the Chimera finaly torn apart the Takabara who had been keeping him occupied.  But this moment of triumph would not stop the Satrap Xarxas from turning his scythed chariot into the approaching Hippesis.  The blades on the chariot cutting the legs out from under the horses, the screams of the dying and mutilated filling the air.

The battle in front of the encampment raged on, the Stategos somehow managing to keep Xeshm at bay.  A mere mortal standing up to the power of a god.  The Strategos was either extremely lucky or one of the best warriors who had ever walked the lands of Hyperborea.  Cornered and fighting with desperate fury the last unit of resolute Cardaces cut down the Hoplites facing them.

Hearing the victorious shouts of his men, the Satrap spurred on his horses driving his chariot through the Psiloi that faced him.

The chariots momentum carried it away from the Hippesis that was harrassing it and into a second group of Psiloi.  The chariot making short work of these skirmishers.  

The destruction of this unit was the final straw and Strategos Demitris decided that what was left of his command should return to Argos.  

It had been a hard fought battle for both sides but Iranistan still stood, and would be ready to face whatever the fates sent at it.

Moving from single battles to a campaign

 Moving from single battles to a campaign

The few battles that I have fought using Hordes of the Things have been a lot of fun but, like most wargamers I have a yearning for something a little deeper.  Something where battles matter, where countries rise and fall, in short a campaign.  Am I ready for full logistics, hidden movement and all of the other interesting aspects of campaigns?  Definitely, not!  The modern world has too much of a hold on my freetime to allow the luxury of these things.  It might be something I build up to in the future, but who knows.  For now, I am looking for a system that will allow me a bit more randomisation of who is fighting whom, and some form of territory loss and again.  I could use the system that is included in Hordes of the Things, but I was inspired by Martin Smith`s Hott Hyborian Skodbac (Simple Knock Out DBA campaign) games.  His games used the system devised by Ian Hayward.  If you would like to learn more about the system please use the following link to Ian Hayward`s website.

https://www.iandrea.co.uk/wargames/DBA/simplecampaign/index.html

The system itself can easily be used with other games with a few tweaks.  One small change that I made was in working out the aggression rating of each army.  Hordes of the Things doesn`t come with an aggression rating for its armies, so I simply rolled a d3 to determine the starting aggression for each of the armies.  

Rather than hand drawing a map I decided to put my limited computer skills to the test and cobbled together a map that showed how each country was connected.  The last thing to do was to roll some dice and determine who would be the attacker in the first year of the campaign.  Right, that is probably enough of a preamble, on with the show.

Campaign year one

After rolling the dice Corinthia was determined as the attacker and Zamora would be tasked with fending off the invasion.

The defence of Zamora

The Forces

Corinthia
King Agis of Corinthia (Spears general)
7x Hoplite Lokhoi (Spears)
1x Helots (Warband)
1x Hippesis (Riders)
1x Minotaur (Behemoth

Zamora
Strategos Zafar (Spears general)
4x Hoplite Lokhoi (Spears)
2x Psiloi (Shooters)
1x Helots (Warband)
2x Hippesis (Riders)
1x Stone golem (Behemoth

Deployment

King Agis believed that nothing could stand in the way of the dreaded Corinthian Hoplites, so he split them into two groups.  One group would attack the right flank, while he would lead the  second group in the centre supported by the Minotaur.  His light troops would try and distract any threat that came from their flank.

After looking at the distribution of the Corinthian forces the Zamorian Strategos Zafar decided to focus most of his troops in the centre.  From this position they could quickly reposition where necessary.  Having the advantage in light troops Zafar unleased them on his right flank.  He planned to overpower the Corinthian light troops and then swing his remaining light forces into the rear of the Corinthian main line.

Battle Narrative

The battle start slowly for both commanders, their troops being relucant to close with the enemy.  King Agis was able to get his Hoplite Lokhoi marching towards the Zamorian forces their silent advance unsettling the defenders.  

The loud braying of the minotaur snapped the Zamorian troops out of their stupor.  The strategos ordered two of his hopltite lokhoi in the centre to support the helots on the left flank, then he moved the rest of the hoplites and the stone golem forwards to attack the centre, and sent his light troops on the right, forward to attack the Corinthians.

The Zamorian advantage soon paid off.  The Psiloi rushed forward approaching the  Corinthian helots on the flank.  The deadly shower of javelins soon sent the helots running.

The ground shook as the two behemoths clashed in the centre.  The sound of their blows rang out across the battlefield, but neither of them could find an opening.

The Corinthian hippesis knew that they couldn`t beat the overwhelming number of light troops facing them, so they broke off and dashed through the middle of the battlefield. They were determined to reach the Zamorian town and sack it.  The fates were not on their side, though.  As they were galloping behind the stone golem it reeled back from a goring by the minotaur.  Its massive frame crushing the horsemen to a pulp.

The centre of the battlefield fell into a stalemate as neither side could get any advantage.  On the Corinthian right flank the hoplites moved forward and attacked the Zamorian defenders.  Their goal to force their way to the Zamorian town.

 The stalemate in the centre didn`t last long as the freed up Zamorian hippesis charged into the Corinthian line.  The horsemen were hoping to smash through and disrupt the disciplined hoplites.  The veteran warriors of Corinthia were not so easily defeated, though.  One lokhoi turned about face and fended off both the light horsemen and a group of psiloi.

The Corinthian hoplites pushed towards their objective with single minded determination.  Their grit and tenacity forcing back the Zamorian hoplites.  But the hoplites` success allowed the Zamorian helots to isolate one of the lokhoi.  The fierce helots charged into discplined ranks of hoplites before they could form up and cut the spearmen down.

The tide of the battle swung further against King Agis and his invading troops with the death of the minotaur.  The two gigantic beasts had spent the battle trading blows with one another.  It hadn`t looked as if either would best the other until a lucky blow from the stone golem`s axe crushed the skull of the minotaur.

Unfazed by the death of the minotaur the remaining Corinthian hoplites tried to continue their drive towards the town.  Seeing the danger the strategos Zafar redirected some of his forces to block their advance.

Jeers and insults assaulted the ears of the Corinthian rearguard.  These usually disciplined troops could not restrain themselves anymore and charged the approaching  Zamorian helots.  In a desperate close combat their fighting prowess couldn`t match the fury of the helots.

King Agis realised that his forces were too depleted to take Zamora from its stauch defenders and sounded the retreat.  Zamora had seen off the Corinthian invasion.